Change from separate building reduces cost, is more efficient, officials say

A technical education center for the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District won’t be a separate 12,000-square-foot building.

Instead, a 7,000-square-foot addition will be attached to the high school’s current tech ed and art classrooms.

The center is part of a $6 million building project that will be bid in August. Construction of the center and renovations to the middle and elementary schools are expected to begin in September.

On Tuesday, the School Board gave tentative approval to plans presented by Kurt Davis of Abacus Architects and construction manager Steve Schmitt of Jos. Schmitt Construction, both of Sheboygan.

The decision to attach the center to the high school occurred during a meeting with technical education teachers Fred Nicora and Wayne Hoffmann and art teacher Don Urness, Davis said.

“The teachers weren’t overly excited about a separate building,” he said. “It became pretty clear that attaching it to the school made sense.”

The addition, which will have two bays, one for metals and the other for small engines, will be attached to the woodworking shop, which will remain in the high school. Each bay will have overhead doors large enough for a truck to enter and indirect lighting, Davis said. New offices and restrooms will be in a corridor that leads to the addition.

The addition will also house an art room for three-dimensional projects that require welding and other industrial techniques. That room will be attached to the current art room. A concrete slab will be poured for an outdoor art room.

The original plans had called for the art department to move into the current tech-ed facilities.

Teachers and administrators have been working with Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, which wants to hold adult educationclasses in the tech-ed facility. The college will provide equipment that students can also use, Supt. Steve Shaw said. Companies are also being contacted for donations, he said.

A major renovation of the middle school, which was built 30 years ago as a high school, includes an addition for administration offices near the entrance, gutting the interior to create larger classrooms, converting the current office area into a science rooms with labs and adding two classrooms at the northeast and northwest corners.

Two new classrooms will also be added at the elementary school.

The district received a $25,000 grant to provide handicapped-accessible bathrooms.

Davis recommended installing several rooftop heating, ventilation and cooling units that will each serve two rooms rather than putting in a completely new system.

The smaller units will be less expensive and more efficient, he said, and teachers will be able to regulate the temperatures in their rooms.

A new roofline feature that will hide the rooftop units and make the building look taller is planned. The brick cannot be matched, so Davis suggested using two darker colors that pick up shades in the currentbrick for the additions. The new brick can also be used beneath all the windows to tie the old and new areas together, he said.All windows will be replaced with energy-efficient ones that open.New locker rooms of equal size for boys and girls and a referee room will be created near the gym and swimming pool.Several items will be optional bids that the School Board may choose to do if there is enough money.